Stunted
by Starrilight-Hotaru
Summary: She did not grow. On the eve of her seventeenth summer she stood before the great demon tree as she had done so many nights before. She spoke unto him words she would utter to no one else. Not even her lord. And when she was done and most tired, she cried deeply into his blossoms, while making him promise to keep her secrets. IR
1. Chapter 1

This is a mature drabble.

It is rated M for mature themes and content.

Disclaimer: I claim to own nothing. Do with that information what you will.

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_A/N:_ This is an idea I was playing with. It won't be very long but I find that I enjoy writing drabble chapters. Enjoy.

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_Stunted - Chapter 1_

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He had lost her once again.

"I was mistaken, this is not what I wanted…" muttered the girl who overcame time to the boy who time overcame, before she slipped back into the well never to be seen or followed again.

Perhaps her leaving was selfish, for he could not be at fault for not being able to give her the family she so desired. Who could have told the couple 9 years prior, when the girl returned indefinitely, that her hanyou lover was sterile? And he could not beget an heir. It was not widely known that hanyou were barren, but after they struggled for over 3 years to conceive, they heard rumors from others as well and all was soon known.

But perhaps his infertility was not what drove a wedge between them. Perhaps it was his reaction to the knowledge that he could not sire a child. He was relieved. In his mind, he did not truly wish to be responsible for the ridicule and hardships that another would incur for straddling the line of humanity and what lies beyond.

Yet she saw it as a blatant want not to conceive with her. She felt as if the past was holding him from her. She became bitter as she watched her friends raise a family together and experience the joys of parenthood. She became filled with self loathing when she remembered that in the life she had left, she could have had that joy already. And yet a decade in the past had almost come to a close.

She blamed him unjustly because of the feeling of failure that comes with the knowledge that certain dreams shall not come true. And began to push him away until there was nothing left to keep her there. She wished to return to her time because maybe this place in the past was no longer her own. And so she did.

In her wake she left a disheartened lover with a soul filled with voids. And to fill them he turned to drinking because the lazy comfort of a lack of awareness was still and yet a comfort. While the tortures of sobriety where yet and still tortures.


	2. Chapter 2

This is a mature drabble.

It is rated M for mature themes and content.

Disclaimer: I claim to own nothing. Do with that information what you will.

* * *

_Stunted - Chapter 2_

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She did not grow.

On the eve of her seventeenth summer she stood before the great demon tree as she had done so many nights before. She spoke unto him words she would utter to no one else. Not even her lord. She danced around his roots and hung mirrors from his branches. She caressed his bark and ran through the glade with his nymph daughters. And when she was done and most tired, she cried deeply into his blossoms, while making him promise to keep her secrets.

Nothing about her had changed since her second revival. She was in all appearances an eight year old little girl. A sun kissed, brown haired, chocolate eyed little girl to most, she was treated as such. Her legs stayed strong. Her words became demure.

But even still she was treated as a girl of eight. Even by her care takers, though she knew they meant no harm. She had aged in mind as they did. She knew the things they knew. And yet they treated her as they did their friend's children who appeared only a few years younger than her at most. And some did appear older than her at best, they too treating her as a younger sibling extension.

Her greatest fear was that her lord thought the same. That she was whom she appeared to be. That she had not grown with the years. That she was an immortal doll. He would not take her back if she did not become more than what she was at eight. And yet here she was, frozen in time, how could he know any different?

And so at night she would escape and follow the moonlit paths deep into the lands she called home. And she would sit with her demon tree, for it seemed he knew her best. She would chat with him. Become mesmerized when he shook his now decorated branches for her. He would call out to his kin to keep her company when she fell too quiet. The great tree did love her, much like his own, maybe even more so, but he knew her conflict and her pain.

Yet he was not sure what he had to offer her, the immortal girl who wished to be that which she was inside. The words she spoke to him gave him a clear window into her heart. To be that which she was, truly was it really such a strange request? The old tree sunk into himself one night as the girl made her way back to her homestead. Never one to worry her caretakers, and she was sure her midnight excursions would do just that.

And in his old mind he thought, shuffling through ages of wisdom. There was something he was missing, something to give his adopted forest daughter that which she desired. And after a fortnight of drawing within his mind he came upon it. A way for the child to become more than what she was.

She came to him again that night, as she always did. Without a word she threw her summer yukata to the wind and once again began to dance upon his roots. This was something she tended to do when she was most distraught. For her female caretaker had abandoned them. And it seemed to her that the male would never recover. But this was an act that called his nymph daughters to her. And they too began to dance with her covering her small frame with petals gathering her up for a moment to braid her hair. And when they stopped to laugh and rest, she did look as though she was born within the glades with them. And they continued to run and dance with her.

And once they made sure she was quite done with her sadness, they left her to their father so that she may have words with him before travelling home. It was what they always did, for they loved their little sprite, their darling sibling extension. So she sat upon a raised root and gently leaned into his bark. The petals the nymphs and placed upon her wrapping around her body like a small gown, cocooning her from the night air.

Her rosy lips parted as they spoke for a while, the breeze singing a song with his leaves. She told him more secrets as she wove her fingers through her hair. And when she was done she leaned further into his bark. And then he did tell her of his plan.


End file.
